infoGIPETO n.35 | dicembre 2018

BREEDING NETWORK
RETE DI ALLEVAMENTO
same year because of different internal/release problems. In 2012 Grands Causses (FR) received
the first nestlings and three years later a reinforcement project started in Corse where the population
is near verge of extinction. And finally, in 2018, a new reintroduction project began in Maestrazgo
(ES) in order to establish a bridge between the Andalusian reintroduced population and the wild
Pyrenean one, the same as Grands Causses for the Pyrenean and the Alpine population.
Since 1986, 301 nestlings have been used for in situ projects: 223 nestlings have been released
in the Alpine project, 54 in Andalusia, 15 in Grands Causses, 4 in Corse, 3 in Sardinia and 2 in
Maestrazgo. The rest of the produced birds were included in the captive breeding network (234).
Since 1997, 233 nestlings fledged in the Alps and 5 juveniles were successfully raised in Andalusia
since 2015 (both after nine years of releases).
Breeding results - Year 2018 A fourth consecutive year with an incredible number of produced
fledglings (25) was achieved within the captive breeding program. In total, 42 pairs laid 68 eggs,
from which 33 hatched and 25 fledged. Unfortunately, one pair from a private collection with its
chick has been excluded from the EEP because was not able to stick to the established conditions.
From the final 24 chicks included in the EEP only 13 were released: 4 in the Alps, 4 in Andalusia,
3 in Baronnies (LIFE project GypConnect) and 2 in Maestrazgo. 11 were added to the breeding
network. From these 24 fledglings, 19 came from the specialized captive breeding centres (20
laying pairs) and 5 from zoos and private collections (21 laying pairs).
EEP suffered an abnormally high number of chicks’ losses (n= 8 in 2018). Three chicks died after
being successfully adopted (two, three and four weeks of age respectively). Further 10 fertile eggs
aborted in different incubation stages (four of them just before hatching and two in the last incubation
third). On the other side, 5 new pairs produced for the first time a clutch, 1 pair produced for the
first time a chick which died a few hours after hatching and 1 pair had its first descendant.
From the 11 birds included in the EEP, 1 bird died just a few days after fledging. From the remaining
10 juveniles, 5 are females, 3 males and the last 2 with sex unknown are still outside from Europe
not being clear if they can be included in the EEP. Consequently, the current sex imbalance in favor
to females has increased, making necessary in the coming years to urgently include males in the
captive breeding program.
Losses - Only three birds died this year, one at the RFZ because of senility (36 years old), one at
the breeding center Vallcalent (Spain: an adult wild Pyrenean male died during an experimental
surgery intervention) and one at the Tierpark Goldau (Switzerland: the 4 months old descendant
from the Swiss centre died a few days after fledging). Unfortunately, all three were males further
increasing the sex imbalance in favour to females.
The first dead male was sent in its hatching year 1982 to Antwerp zoo, together with the supposed
female BG047. After more than one decade it came out that BG047 was a male, thus it was
immediatly replaced in 1996 by a young female BG234. In 2007, BG234 injured seriously BG058
with irreparable consequences. A second sex determination analysis showed that BG234 was also
a male. We should remember that at the beginning of the program sex of birds was determined
through chromosomes, method that sometimes could have failed.
Increases - With the inclusion of Pairi Daiza zoo in the EEP, 2 new birds have been added to the
captive network. Both birds have been hand-reared. One is 16 years old female BG398, descendant
from the old Almaty zoo breeding pair, which has been transferred to RFZ to analyse if pair
bonding can be done. The second bird
is a 3 years old male (BG1011), which
has been transferred to Aachen zoo for
social contact with a juvenile female
during a waiting period until it will receive
a suitable male.
Transfers - In 2018, 10 males and 9
females were transferred with the aim
to form six new pairs. Also descendants
from less common genetic lineages
have been transferred to Guadalentín
breeding centre, where aspergillosis
and West Nile Virus infection have
never appeared because of the geographical
location of the centre (1300
m a.s.l.). Further the adult breeding pair
from Riga zoo has been transferred to
Vallcalent breeding centre, in order to
analyse the cause of the continuous
breeding failures despite the regular
egg laying. At the same time Riga
zoo received a young pair. Finally, two
pairs have been transferred to the new
Asters breeding centre with the goal to
have siblings from important genetic lineages
distributed in different centres.
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